Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too am happy to rise to speak on this afternoon’s MPI. The member for Corio referred to this particular MPI as a reflection of how delusional those opposite actually are that they should make such a statement. I not only agree with him; I think it is almost audacious in its delusion in referring to the concerns that we are facing in the current economy as being a result of the nine months of the Rudd government. In fact, as we have heard said quite eloquently by my colleagues, it is the last 12 years of flagrant spending and irresponsible economic management that has created some of the pressures that we as a government dealt with most responsibly in our recent budget and are dealing with as we move forward with our economic program. If there were any example of how delusional the previous government, the now opposition, are, I think it was all summed up by the member for Ryan in his comments. I think it just demonstrates how out of touch those members opposite are when it comes to the economy and the future of economic prosperity in this country.

We all know that good economic management, matched with investment in infrastructure and skills, is the way that you grow an economy. That is the way to grow an economy not just for the short term but for the long-term prosperity of the Australian community. We know that by developing a $22 billion surplus in the recent budget, by maintaining a responsible fiscal policy and sound economic management, we will see our way through the current global pressures and indeed we will manage to maintain good economic outcomes for the near future.

But we also need investment in infrastructure and skills to ensure that economic prosperity is sustained over the long term—and that is what we did not see at all in the 11 years that the Howard government were in power. In fact, what they did was benefit enormously from a resources boom. Instead of actually investing wisely and buffering our economic prosperity, they simply squandered it. They squandered the windfall of the resources boom. They squandered also the gains that were made by some fairly courageous economic reforms of previous Labor governments. They inherited many economic reforms and they benefited from a resources boom, all of which set them in good stead to set up the Australian economy for the long term as a sustainable and prosperous one. But they squandered all of that on spending to create their own ideological gains and to promote their own political agenda, and they did not really invest in our future.

If you listen to any of the commentators who are looking at the skills crisis that we have in this country, who are looking at the pressures that we are facing economically, they are saying most clearly that it is the result of a lack of investment in infrastructure and skills. It is clearly a lack of investment in the area, for example, of vocational education and training that has resulted in the pressures that we have seen, in the inflation increases and in the interest rate rises. It is in fact the failure to keep pace with the need for skilled labour in this country that has in a sense created this MPI—

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